We all know that Cantonese and Hainanese love their chicken, but the people of Guangxi love their chicken as much as their compatriots in Guangdong and Hainan provinces.
Guangxi style chicken is similar to chicken in Guangdong and Hainan except for one critical aspect - nam 唸 (we will come to this a little later).
The similarity is expected as these provinces are adjacent to each other and historically shared the same roots as part of the old Namyue kingdom (founded 204 BC) before it was absorbed (by conquest) into the Han dynasty in 111 BC.
In Guangxi, Guangdong or Hainan, the cooking technique is similar.
Typically, the cleaned and gutted bird is simmered in 90°C almost boiling water for 20 minutes, then poached for another 20 minutes (heat off) before it is removed from hot water and dunked in cold or ice water.
The cold water treatment is the key to keeping the skin and meat smooth, supple, tender and juicy. It also congeals the fat into a much coveted layer of fatty jelly between the skin and meat. Fat is flavour, this jelly yields the most chicken taste in each mouthful.
What sets Guangxi chicken apart is their relish known as nam 唸, and the Guangxi chicken dish is known as 味唸鸡 or literally nam taste chicken.
There are many variations of nam 唸, different but same-same, similar.
Let's look at a few examples of nam.
In this example, the relish is made by cold blending chopped scallion, coriander, garlic, chilli pepper with soy sauce and peanut oil. All ingredients are raw, no cooking is involved. The piece of chicken is bathed with the relish just before eating.
This relish uses mashed ginger, mashed garlic, cut chili pepper, chopped coriander, soy sauce, and chicken stock. Again no cooking is involved, just stir, mix and blend. Similar to the first relish but with chicken stock added. This second relish is used as a dipping sauce.
In this third variation, chopped scallion, coriander, ginger, soy sauce, salt, sugar, and Chinese cooking wine or Shaoxing are stir fried together to make the relish, which is used as a dip.
In this next case, mashed garlic and chopped coriander stems are stir fried in peanut oil to release its aromas, then poured over with chicken soup, and flavoured with soy sauce and salt. The soupy sauce is used a dip.
One more example which involves cooking, chopped coriander, coriander root, chives, ginger, shallot, garlic are stir fried in peanut oil then poured over with chicken soup, and soy sauce. The nam is used as a dipping sauce.
Five variations and there are many more, but you get the idea.
So basically, nam 唸 is either raw or cooked (stir fried), and have different combinations of aromatics like ginger, shallot, garlic, coriander, scallion, chive with chicken soup, Shaoxing wine and soy sauce. Some add chili pepper for heat. Some recipes call for oyster sauce. It is used as a dip or as a dressing.
Written by Tony Boey on 28 Sep 2025
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